As my reader(s) is well aware, I am fascinated and at times obsessed by words. The above video, courtesy of DJ Earworm, put me in mind (naturally) of the word “earworm,” defined as a song that constantly runs through your mind and you can’t rid yourself of, no matter how hard you try. Every December, the genius that is DJ Earworm creates a mashup of the year’s pop hits. Although this year’s version is good, I prefer last year’s mix, World Go Boom! Go ahead and click on the highlighted link…Just don’t say I didn’t warn you when the “mooo-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooves” of “Moves Like Jagger” becomes your own personal earworm.

I had thought that the word “earworm” was universally known among US speakers of English, but apparently not. I tried it out on two young women in their late 20s whom I consider quite hip, and neither knew what it meant. I was shocked that their vocabulary was lacking such a useful and specific term. Of course, my own twenty-something, The Kid, is quite familiar with the word. Although it is said that nothing can rid you of an earworm, one recommendation is to hum an even more annoying tune for a minute or so. The Kid’s failproof song for this cure is, of all things, “The Wedding of the Painted Doll” from 1929.

With earworms, usually the song in question is some innocuous pop hit or commercial jingle, but I’ve also encountered earworms in the form of classical music. My personal earworm of last summer was the Brazilian pop song “Ai se eu te pego” (loosely translated as “When I Get My hands on You.” Listen at your own risk.

Then standing erect with his hands on his pecho He flew to the top of our very own techo.

With his round little belly like a bowl of jalea, He struggled to squeeze down our old chiminea,

Then huffing and puffing at last in our sala, With soot smeared all over his real suit de gala,

He filled all the medias with lovely regalos For none of the niños had been very malos.

Then chuckling aloud, seeming muy contento, He turned like a flash and was gone como viento.

And I heard him exclaim, and this is verdad, Merry Christmas to all y Feliz Navidad!

Given my recent fixation with Spanglish, I thought my reader(s) would appreciate the version above, which is similar to one I heard on NPR (where else?) this morning. It made me chuckle, especially the reindeer names. For those who prefer the actual poem with a faithful Spanish translation, here’s a link to a website for Spanish speakers learning English.

Wooing the Latino vote. Following this week’s presidential elections, the pundits had much to say about the Republican Party’s lack of diversity. US demographics are changing and the Latino vote (to name only one portion of the minority electorate) is only going to increase. In a recent campaign ad, President Obama courted Latino voters in his workmanlike Spanish. On first hearing, it may appear that he slips into Spanglish, but actually the “dreamers” the president cites are the young people affected by the bipartisan DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act.

Here’s a complete translation of the ad: “In the young people known as DREAMers, I see the same qualities Michelle and I try to instill in our daughters. They respect their parents. They study for a better life. And they want to contribute to the only country they know and love. As a father, they inspire me. And as president, their spirit reminds me that no obstacle is too great, no road too long.”

The GOP, for its part, is wasting no time licking its wounds but instead is looking to the 2014 election cycle and beyond. A story in today’s paper profiled a rising star with a familiar name who is winning attention among Latino Republicans. George P. Bush, grandson of one US president and nephew of another, plans a run for office in Texas. He is the son of former Florida governor Jeb Bush and his Mexican-born wife Columba. He and his siblings were once famously referred to by their grandfather George H.W. Bush as “the little brown ones.”

Time magazine looks positively prescient in this report from June 19, 2000: George Bush—all three generations of him—wants to woo Hispanic voters. Scarcely a week goes by when the Texas Governor—George W.—isn’t hola-ing and comos estas-ing his way through a Hispanic community center or a classroom filled with Hispanic children. And late last week in New York City, his campaign released its first television ads of the general election—ads starring George P. Bush, the candidate’s charismatic 23-year-old Mexican-American nephew, in a direct pitch to New York’s Puerto Rican voting bloc. The star turn will not be his last. “You’re going to be seeing a lot more of him,” beams a campaign adviser.

It’s official. The Royal Spanish Academy, the official arbiter of the Spanish language recently announced that the upcoming 23rd edition of its dictionary will include the word “espanglish,” which the academy defines as a “a mode of speech of some hispanic groups in the United States, in which lexical and grammatical elements of Spanish and English are mixed, deforming them. When I first heard this story on National Public Radio, I thought the word that had been admitted to the dictionary was “spanglish.” But no, the Royal Spanish Academy, has decreed the word is “espanglish,” which was not surprising, given the number of words that Spanish and English share that are separated by only this one letter (more or less). For instance, most English speakers, even those who know no Spanish should be able to decipher escándalo, especial, especifica, estable, estrés, estrategia, and estructural. For a discussion on why this “e” is a part of so many Spanish words—and why Spanish speakers learning English may want to drop the “e” (Lucy! You’ve got some splainin’ to do!) click here.

English, meanwhile, blithely “steals” words from other languages and usually without amending the spelling. This is why, in an earlier post about learning Spanish from CDs, the poor guy confessed he didn’t know the Spanish word for salsa, which is, of course, salsa. No doubt he also had trouble with the Spanish words for arroyo, burro, chocolate, corral, coyote, fiesta, machete, mesa, mosquito, patio, plaza, rodeo, and siesta, to name just a few.

Oops. The headline says it all: “Mitt Romney Tells Cubans He Loves Papaya Unaware It’s a Slang Word for Female Private Parts.” It’s all very well to try to connect with your audience, but wouldn’t you think that an experienced politico like Mr. Romney would have checked with a savvy Spanish-speaking advisor before reaching out for the Cuban-American vote in Florida? I may not know much Spanish, but I would have been able to avoid this particular gaffe. A few years ago, I took a Spanish class with Robyn, a self-described Jewbana (red-blooded American girl of Jewish/Cuban heritage). She advised me that in Cuba, the fruit is referred to as “fruta bomba.”

Mr. Romney gave his interview in English and of course intended to convey only his appreciation of a tropical fruit. And the truth is he could just as well have slipped up with another Spanish word. I’ve posted previously about the song “Qué Difícil es Hablar el Español” (How Difficult It Is to Speak Spanish), which offers a whirlwind summation of the meanings of different Spanish words in different countries. If you care to investigate further, here’s a link to the song with the lyrics in English.

Afuera de la embajada de los EEUU en Quito, Ecuador, la bandera estaba a media asta para conmemorar a los víctimas de la masacre reciente en un cine en Colorado. La Flaquita está en Quito este verano para hacer una practica en el Departamento de Estado.
The flag at the U.S. embassy in Quito, Ecuador, flew at half-mast to commemorate the victims of the midnight shooting in Colorado. The Kid is in Quito this summer, working for the U.S. State Department.

This past week has provided ample opportunity to see how other nations view the United States. Last Friday’s shooting at the movie theater Aurora, Colorado, prompted an outpouring of condolences as well as renewed criticism of our nation’s inability or aversion to rein in the sale of guns. Here’s a random sampling from the worldwide press.• Globe and Mail, Canada: “America’s permissive gun laws, fetishized in their laxness as the epitome of American freedom by the powerful National Rifle Association, are a common denominator in mass shootings around the world. From Aurora, Colo., to Norway to Toronto and Mexico, the stubborn refusal to link the worldwide availability of American-supplied semi-automatic weapons, accessories and ammunition to tragedy after tragedy is a black mark.”• O Globo, Brazil: “The relatively easy purchase of weapons in the United States… has immense drawbacks: [U.S. arms dealers] are in large part, supplying the cartels of drug trafficking that are leading Mexico to a desperate situation. Often [the weapons] end up in the hands of criminals in other countries too.”• Excélsior, Mexico: “What happened last week at Colorado and a dozen more similar cases that have taken place in the U.S. in recent years is regrettable, but how many more people have died in other countries, including Mexico, because of the sale of weapons? … Society and governments should put pressure on U.S. authorities to open the debate on a new law on firearms, so that the tragedy of Aurora does not end up, like many other massacres, just another sad story.”

Gun control appears to be yet another “third rail” issue for U.S. politicians, i.e., one that is so politically charged no candidate or sitting office holder dares to even broach the subject. There is much to love and admire and be proud of about the United States, but the lack of political and popular will to tackle hard issues is likely to destroy our way of life. Until we, as a nation, address the proliferation of guns, the midnight shooting in Aurora will be “just another sad story” as if we collectively shrugged our shoulders and said, “Well, there’s nothing can we do.”

In my last post, I mentioned that my home state has two monuments to massacres perpetrated by government agents. I did not mention a monument not so far from my home that commemorates the victims of the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School carried out by two teenagers. I expect that in time, there will be another nearby monument, this one honoring those killed by a young man armed to the teeth with weapons and ammunition all legally obtained under current firearm regulations.

This post is not in my usual line of wry or lightweight observations. I’ve been thinking about writing this entry for some time now, ever since I heard the account of “What Happened at Dos Erres” on the radio program This American Life. Here’s the synopsis: “In 1982, the Guatemalan military massacred the villagers of Dos Erres, killing more than 200 people. Thirty years later, a Guatemalan living in the US got a phone call from a woman who told him that two boys had been abducted during the massacre—and he was one of them.”

The program was not easy to listen to. I had the podcast on as I exercised at the rec center and gradually had to stop what I was doing. At one point in the program, the interviewer is talking with Tranquilino Castañeda, an elderly villager who happened to be away on the day of the massacre and returned to find his pregnant wife and nine children slaughtered. Don Tranquilino suddenly interrupts the interviewer to ask if he can tell him the names of his dead children. And then he begins listing name after name (minute 38:00 in the program).

As much as “What Happened at Dos Erres” is a reminder of man’s inhumanity to man (and woman), it is also a remarkable story of the perseverance and courage of a few Guatemalans to bring the crime to light and the cooperation of several journalistic organizations (ProPublica, This American Life, and Fundación MEPI in Mexico City) to piece together the events that took place and help bring about a kind of resolution. Because the story does end on a hopeful note. One of the two abducted boys— Oscar, who was raised by the family of the lieutenant who oversaw the massacre—is reunited with his father Don Tranquilino (see video below).

For those who prefer to read rather than listen to the story, here are links to the This American Life transcript of the program as well as the ProPublica article “Finding Oscar” and its wealth of resources. For Spanish learners, these materials are also available en español via the links in the next half of this post. The MEPI website also includes an interview with Don Tranquilino in Spanish.

Bubblegum. Bubblegum. Bubblegum. Last year at this time, I was in Lima, living with The Kid, going to language school in the mornings, working for clients in the afternoon, and generally reveling in a life that seemed to be in better balance than my everyday life here in Colorado.

Working for myself from a home office, I have to make an effort to get out and about; otherwise I would rarely see anyone but JB. In Lima, I was meeting new people and interacting with them on a daily basis. The Kid’s friends and co-workers. My professors at El Sol, the language school. The ever-changing groups of fellow students from England, India, Norway, China. The “porteros” (doormen) at The Kid’s apartment. The stocker at the grocery store who always talked with me so he could practice English with a real live gringa.

While I was in Peru, Marca Perú, the national promotional campaign, released the above video celebrating Peru’s culture, cuisine, and many tourist attractions. The conceit of the video is that famous Peruvians are introducing the good folks of tiny Peru, Nebraska, to all they are missing out on—and should enjoy—as “Peruvians.” The video went viral in Peru and played continuously for several days on a TV set in the reception area of El Sol.

Although the version I posted here is subtitled, the original is in Spanish (which seems to me an odd choice, given that the video appears to be directed toward promoting Peru tourism among US travelers.) And the video only pretends to be a documentary; clearly, the residents of Peru, Nebraska, had some coaching on what to say and how to react. (For example, when the townsfolk try Inca Cola, Peru’s national soft drink, everyone describes the taste the same way: bubblegum. Having tasted Inca Cola, I am in complete agreement.) No matter. The film is really quite charming and manages to poke gentle fun at the insular world of small-town America, while celebrating the ways people open up their lives when they experience another culture.

Essential words for the beginning spanish student. I recently happened upon the notebook I kept during the eight weeks of my first Spanish course, which met for three hours a day, five days a week, for eight weeks in the summer of 2008. Inside the front cover—the flyleaf to be precise—I jotted down words and expressions that struck my fancy, phrases that seemed essential to a beginning language learner, and many, many ways of conveying my frustration with my progress or lack thereof.

For example, in the red rectangle along the left edge is the word “quisquilloso,” indicating that almost from the start of my language journey, that word was part of my Spanish vocabulary. The second line at the top of the page lists expressions for cool/neat/great—words that, as it turns out, I hardly ever use. On the top left, there’s the verb “bostezar” (to yawn) and the commands for warning a classmate not to yawn. (Our classes were sometimes less than scintillating, and a single yawn would trigger a chain reaction around the room.) The top left also features the verb “estordunar” (to sneeze), followed by what to say when someone sneezes. With the first sneeze, you say “salud!” (health), with the second “dinero!” (money), and with the third, “amor!” (love).

No joke! In Spanish-speaking countries, the holiday corresponding to April Fools’ Day is El Dia de Los Santos Inocentes, which is celebrated on December 28 and can be traced back to the medieval Feast of Fools. El Dia de Los Santos Inocentes (The Day of the Innocent Saints) marks the Massacre of the Innocents, when Herod ordered that all male infants and young children be executed, in a futile attempt to eliminate the newborn King of the Jews.

So far, I haven’t discovered how the day commemorating a massacre transmuted into an occasion for practical jokes. What I have learned is that when playing a joke on someone, the Spanish speaker’s preferred taunt is “Inocente palomita que te dejaste engañar” (“You innocent little dove that let yourself be fooled”). And according to Word Reference (my go-to source for language questions), the Spanish equivalent of saying “April Fool!” when pulling a prank is “¡Inocente!”

¡Fíjate Bien!/Note!

Por favor, fíjate bien. Para no aburrir a los bilingües, estas entradas generalmente no son traducciones de inglés a español (o al revés), sino que tratan de aspectos diferentes de los mismos temas.Please note. To avoid boring the bilingual, these posts generally are not direct translations of each other but rather discuss different aspects of the same subject.